People protect themselves behind a trash can as anti-riot olice fires water cannon to disperse thousands of people demonstrating following the death of Berkin Elvan, a teenage boy wounded in mass anti-government demonstrations last year, on March 11, 2014 near the Middle East Technical University (ODTU) in Ankara. Elvan's story – he spent 269 days in a coma – gripped the nation and became a symbol of the heavy-handed tactics used by police to reign in the biggest demonstrations against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan since he came to power in 2003. (Photo by Adem Altan/AFP Photo)

A stuffed rabbit doll sits among children's beds standing in the abandoned kindergarten of Kopachi village located inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone on September 29, 2015 near Chornobyl, Ukraine. Kopachi, a village that before 1986 had a population of 1,114, lies only a few kilometers south of the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant, where in 1986 workers inadvertantly caused reactor number four to explode, creating the worst nuclear accident in history. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Children look at Hares and Ducks ahead of the Turkey and dressed poultry auction at Chelford Market, northern England December 22, 2014. (Photo by Phil Noble/Reuters)

In one of the deadliest attacks in Turkey in recent years, two car bombs exploded near the border with Syria on Saturday, killing 43 and wounding 140 others. Turkish officials blamed the attack on a group linked to Syria, and a deputy prime minister called the neighboring country's intelligence service and military "the usual suspects."

The blasts, which were 15 minutes apart and hit the town of Reyhanli's busiest street, raised fears that Turkey could increasingly be drawn into Syria's brutal civil war.

Turkey already hosts Syria's political opposition and rebel commanders, has given shelter to hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees and in the past retaliated against Syrian shells that landed in Turkey.

A handout TV grab made available by the Demiroren News Agency (DHA) on September 12, 2020, shows a freak sandstorm sweeping over Polatli, in Ankara, on September 12, 2020. A freak sandstorm hit Ankara on September 12, 2020, the Turkish capital's mayor said, as officials said six people were injured after strong winds. (Photo by Handout/DHA via AFP Photo)

In this photograph taken on February 15, 2021, doctor Sergen Saracoglu (L) and nurse Yilzdiz Ayten (C) from the Bahcesaray public hospital vaccination team, arrive at the village of Guneyyamac in eastern Turkey, as part of an expedition to vaccinate residents of 65 years old or above with Sinovac's CoronaVac Covid-19 vaccine. (Photo by Bulent Kilic/AFP Photo)

Shepherd brothers Mustafa Erbay and Baran Erbay train their camels on snowy grounds, enabling them to become champions in competitions held in the Aegean and Mediterranean regions in Baskale district of Van, Turkey on February 1, 2020. (Photo by Ozkan Bilgin/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

A dolphin swims alongside ships and fishing boats at the Bosphorus in Arnavutkoy district of Istanbul, Turkiye on May 21, 2023. (Photo by Isa Terli/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)